Matthew Cicci
Title
Discipline
Educational Background
PhD. English (Film & Media) from Wayne State University
M.A. English (Creative Writing) from Central Michigan University
B.A. English from Indiana University (Indianapolis)
I am...
a fan. I am a fan of sports, of comics, of television, of games, etc. But, I am also a fan of fans. My work explores how these consumer cultures deal with the rapid, ceaseless evolution of media by examining different rhetorical strategies (of both producers and consumers) across digital platforms.
Rank
Associate Professor of Digital Rhetoric & Composition
My career at Alma began in
I'm an expert in
My expertise:
My work focuses on exploring the increasingly blurred line between the media producer and the media consumer. I examine the boundless nature of media content as well as the ways this content is utilized by fans for any number of expected and unexpected purposes. I particular focus on fan discourse, their rhetorical strategies, and their creation of communities/identities.
Signature course(s):
Recent publications:
BOOK CHAPTERS:
“The Invasion of Loki’s Army? Understanding Comic Culture’s Increasing Awareness of Female Fans,” The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom. Eds. Melissa Click & Suzanne Scott. Routledge (New York). 2018
“Made Man: Joe Fixit, Hulk, and Consumerism in the 1980s,” The Ages of the Incredible Hulk: Essays on Marvel’s Jade Giant in Changing Times. Ed. Joseph Darowski. McFarland & Company (Jefferson, NC). 2017.
BOOK REVIEWS:
“Rev. of European Nightmares: European Horror Cinema since 1945.” Eds. Patricia Allmer, Emily Brick, and David Huxley.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 24.3 (Winter 2014): 492-95.
JOURNAL ARTICLES:
“Marvel Team-Up: Hawkeye, Loki and the Inescapable, Innate Resistance of the Female Superhero Comic Book Fan.” Ed. Jonathan Gray. Journal of Comics & Culture (Spring 2016): 95-123.
Recent presentations:
“The Amazing Spider-Fan: A Paratextual Reconstruction of a Multimodal Superhero.” Console-ing Passions, Eastern Carolina University, Greenville, NC, July 2017
“Flame [War] On! Issues of Race and Canon in Comic Book Adaptation Reception.” PCA/ACA, Seattle, WA, March 2016
“Translations, Transformations & Mutations: The Malleable Superhero Identity.” SCMS, Montreal, Quebec, March 2015 (chair)
“Comic Book Takeover: The Ubiquitous Influence of the Medium in Hollywood.” Flow Conference, University of Texas, Austin, September 2014
“Hawkeye vs. Sexism: Female Fandom and Marvel’s All-New, All-Now Publishing Initiative.” Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, Chicago, April 2014
I've led
I am also the faculty advisor to The Almanian.